Page 10 of The Billionaire’s Fake Fiancée
But Karina doesn't notice. "None of you, that's for sure." She grins. Pausing at the entrance to the changing room, she waves. "Don't wait for me. I'm heading home first to get pretty." Her smile is wicked.
Arpad makes as if to follow her, his face twisting with emotion. He's jealous of Karina's date. Jace holds Arpad back, shakes his head. "You go after Karina now, you lose her forever."
"So I stand by and watch as she fucks half the men in this town?" Arpad snarls, but beneath that anger, pain is evident.
Jace grips his friend's shoulder. "Sometimes you have to explore what's outside to recognize what you have right in front of you."
Right. He's giving Arpad advice on how to handle his love life, when Jace's own is about to get more complicated than it's ever been.
Eric calls out to them from the entrance of the changing room, "You guys coming or do you want to spend all evening gossiping like old ladies?"
That breaks the somber mood of their conversation. Arpad pulls out of Jace's grasp to follow Eric into the changing room.
* * *
Half an hour later Eric and Jace are seated at a small table at the far corner of the 'dive bar' that Karina so hates. It's more rundown than the gym, and filled with the kind of people Jace would never meet on a daily basis.
Sheer proximity to the gym had the four men veering toward the bar the same night they had met?the only time so far that Karina had accompanied them. Heading here once a week had become a habit.
They had an unspoken agreement to leave the high profile of their daily lives behind on these evenings.
It's a cover of sorts, Jace supposed. In here, they didn't have to pretend. They could just be a group of friends catching up on each other's lives.
The smack of a pool ball cuts through his thoughts, and Jace knows he can't put off talking to Eric any longer.
Chugging down a healthy swallow of the whiskey, Eric grimaces. "What is this?"
Jace barks out a laugh. "Laphroaig. Jerry keeps a bottle behind the bar, only for us."
Eric's eyes dart to the bartender, "Ah. One for the big billionaire boys who grace his establishment, is it?"
A hint of the bitterness slips through, giving away that Eric is very aware that he doesn't belong to that club. Yet.
Jace wants to protest that Eric is putting himself down too much.
Eric may not have Damian's talent, or Jace's moneyed background or even Arpad's choice of profession that had catapulted him onto the rich list very quickly. But he has grit and determination in plenty.
Sure, Jace grew up the son of a media magnate, but Darren, his father, was self-made. He'd never allowed his only son to forget that. It's why Jace is here in Silicon Valley, trying to make it on his own. Darren owns a clutch of newspapers and TV channels, but has no interest in breaking into Silicon Valley. Jace wants it to stay that way.
"I'm going to London to get the first installment of my inheritance," Jace says. "I'll put it right back into the business."
Eric's eyes widen, "Thought you weren't on speaking terms with your father? Besides, aren't there conditions attached to getting the first installment?"
"Yeah." Jace's fingers tighten around his glass. "The old man's gone senile. He wants me to show I'm serious about settling down and producing an heir before he releases it."
"And how are you going to convince him? The last I knew, you were single. Unless you've managed to grow a girlfriend in the last twenty-four hours?"
Jace chuckles.
Eric's forehead crinkles in a frown, "You didn't."
When he stays silent, Eric exclaims, "You convinced a woman to come to London with you?"
Jace nods. "It's Natalie's wedding in a week's time in London. I'm going, 'adoring' girlfriend in tow."
"How did you find this 'girlfriend'?" Eric's voice is suspicious.
Jace takes another swig of the whiskey. "Amazing what a million dollars will get you."
